Anthony Flint, Julie Peters and Gary Ware were honored as the University of Georgia Griffin campus 2019 Classified Employees of the Year during the annual Classified Employee Recognition Ceremony held March 26.

“This is one of my favorite events each year. We come together to celebrate some of those who are the most important in making the Griffin campus what it is. I am proud of all the nominees and honorees this year and can say without hesitation that we have many more across campus who we also consider employees of the year,” said Lew Hunnicutt, assistant provost and director at UGA-Griffin.

Flint has been a part of the campus’ Facilities Management Division for the past six years. Through his dedication, leadership and exemplary work ethic, he quickly rose through the ranks from custodian to custodian supervisor and now serves as facilities coordinator.

In this role, he oversees the campus custodial staff to ensure the campus is a clean and inviting place to work. He also maintains an up-to-date inventory of supplies and works with cleaning-supply vendors to evaluate alternative products for efficiency and value while striving to provide the safest, most economical products. He also handles all of the records and maintenance of campus vehicles, is responsible for receiving, sorting and delivering campus mail, and handles surplus property, including collection, sale, recycling, disposal and record keeping.

Peters joined the UGA-Griffin Office of Continuing Education in 2014 as an administrative associate. She handles logistics for continuing education, including scheduling space, managing the activities of the student workers and helping to execute event requests, and she's entrusted to make many day-to-day office operation decisions.

She is responsible for registration management for some of the largest events held at UGA-Griffin, including organizing all payments and registration and coordinating volunteers, logistics and event details for hundreds of participants. Last year, these events included the 2018 Turfgrass Research Field Day and Agroforestry and Wildlife Field Day, two Dow Chemical Field Days, a two-week international workshop, home-school testing groups, children’s programs and numerous community events.

Ware joined the Statewide Variety Testing Program at UGA-Griffin in April 2007 following a 20-year career at Akins Feed and Seed as a fertilizer plant manager. His knowledge of fertilizers and other agricultural products makes him an invaluable part of the Statewide Variety Testing team.

He is the primary equipment operator for the Griffin team and assists with field work to support variety testing and related research programs, which include layouts, planting, plant and soil sampling, and harvesting operations on campus and at UGA research and education centers across the state. Ware receives, inventories, labels and packages the seeds for each test.

When he is not harvesting a crop, Ware spends his work days monitoring research plots for insects, diseases, bloom dates and bird damage. He also collects data — such as leaf-to-stem ratio — counting yields and measuring the height of plants.

Each of the three winners received a $500 award and a recognition plaque. Other nominees for the award were Susie Autry (Center for Food Safety), Tyler Brannon (Department of Field Research Services), Brett Byous (Department of Entomology) and Donna Kent (Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit). Nominees each received a $100 award.